missionaries

It’s been a year since the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints changed the age requirements for young men and women to serve as missionaries. That’s led to a huge increase in the number of young Mormons who’ve signed up to serve.

In the opening session of the church’s General Conference in October, 2012, President Thomas S. Monson announced that young men would be allowed to begin missionary service at age 18 and young women at 19.

Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will do less tracting and more tweeting as they try to recruit new members.

Mormon missionaries have traditionally spent much of their time “tracting,” or going from door to door. Their use of e-mail has been limited to a message home each week. But new mission presidents and others were told during a meeting at Brigham Young University on Sunday that they’ll now be able to use social media such as Facebook and text messaging to reach out to potential converts.